The present invention is directed to a method and apparatus for creating targeted images. More particularly, the present invention is directed to a method and apparatus for creating a targeted integrated image.
Short video clips, or barkers, advertising specific video content or other products, hereinafter “barkers,” are common in the entertainment industry. For example, before a feature presentation, “movie watchers” see a myriad of movie previews, or barkers, that highlight particularly enjoyable parts of the advertised movie. The barkers used in this manner are intended to entice the viewers to choose to view advertised content.
Like the film industry, the broadcast television industry has also used barkers for advertising. In this environment, programmers send the barker to all viewers “tuned in” to a particular station. Hopefully, the barker will entice television viewers to view the advertised video.
Because of the effectiveness of barkers in both the film industry and broadcast television industry, they have become particularly appealing in the digital television industry.
Digital television networks enable two-way communication so that a subscriber can interact or “request” information from the network equipment. Typically, a menu—also called an interactive program guide (IPG) or electronic program guide (EPG)—is employed to list the content available for viewing. The IPG application enables a viewer to browse listings of available programming and associated information and to select content for viewing. The subscriber can utilize the menu to request additional information regarding the offerings.
Typically, the menu has a numeric listing by channel of broadcast television programming. Additionally, a subscriber may have access to narrowcast applications. Narrowcast programming is point-to-point streaming of video from a storage point in the network to a specific subscriber. Narrowcast applications are made possible by compression techniques, e.g., the standards developed by the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG), that enable more content to be delivered to viewers with little or no degradation in picture quality. The resulting increase in transmission capacity allows narrowcast programming to be placed alongside broadcast programming for delivery to viewers.
A dominant narrowcast application is the delivery of content on demand (COD). This content may span many categories, including movies on demand (MOD), video on demand (VOD), subscription video on demand (SVOD), free on demand (FOD) and network-based digital video recording (NDVR).
The user experience provided by an IPG is critical to the success of narrowcast services, since the IPG controls access to the library of narrowcast content available to viewers. Typically, the IPG presents the subscriber with COD menus that usually begin with a general description of the offerings, from which the subscriber can drill down to specific content to be viewed. The ability to deliver narrowcast content to viewers creates the opportunity to provide a targeted viewing experience, which allows advertisement and promotional content to be selected for and delivered to each viewer. This ability can greatly improve the user experience of both menuing and program watching and can also greatly improve the success of narrowcast services, such as COD.
In this menuing environment, it is desirable to play barkers to entice the subscriber to watch a particular movie. If COD is available, the subscriber can order the content and watch it on his/her television. Otherwise, the subscriber would need to rent, purchase, or view the movie from another source.
Historically, barkers played in the menu environment have been broadcast. The user's premises device is typically directed to tune to a particular channel, and the barkers are broadcast such that all subscribers see the same barker. A menu screen is drawn around the barker through the use of the premises device presentation software, based upon information regarding content available for viewing. The information regarding content available for viewing is typically provided by the on-demand computers serving the network. Since the barkers are broadcast, all customers receiving on-demand content are presented with the same barkers. The users may then be bombarded with barkers that are not interesting and that may, in fact, be offensive. This makes the barkers ineffective in enticing customers to order the advertised content.
For example, for a customer interested in children's programming, the barker displaying PG-13 or R rated content would be unattractive and, perhaps, offensive. Likewise, for an adult seeing R rated programming, a barker displaying a children's program would be similarly uninteresting.
There is thus a need for a technique and device for creating targeted integrated images, including targeted barkers, to entice a user to view particular content. There is also a need to link the user to the barker so that the barker will be more effective in enticing the user to order content advertised via the barkers.